Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Japan's land minister Yuichiro Hata and postal minister Mikio Shimoji visited a controversial shrine for war dead on Thursday, Kyodo news agency reported. Their visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many in the region as a symbol of Japan's war-time militarism, came a day after Japan's main opposition party leader and possible next prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited the shrine.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has released previously confidential Japanese wartime documents, including some about comfort women forced to serve in military brothels during World War Two, state media reported. The publication comes during a fraught period in Japan-China relations. Last week, Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd paid about $29 million for the release of a ship seized by China over a dispute that dates back to the 1930s war between the two countries. The 89...

(Corrects dateline to Dec 26) TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on Thursday, a spokesman for the prime minister's office said, in a move likely to anger Asian neighbours China and South Korea. Tokyo's relations with Beijing and Seoul are already strained by territorial rows and disputes stemming from Japan's wartime occupation of large parts of China and its 1910-1945 ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - The governor of the Japanese capital Tokyo said on Thursday there was "great significance" in his visit to the Chinese capital and the trip could be a step toward repairing strained bilateral ties. Hopes have run high for the visit at a time when relations between China and Japan, Asia's two largest economies, have been particularly strained. "Country-to-country relations between Japan and China are tense, and there's great significance in the...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead by the end of the year, Japanese media reported on Sunday, citing an aide in Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Such a visit would almost certainly anger Asian victims of Japan's past aggression. Relations with China and South Korea are also strained over territorial disputes. The media reports came two days after a Japanese minister and more...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A memorial to a Korean who assassinated a Japanese official more than a century ago has drawn a flood of visitors since it opened in China in January despite Japanese criticism. In a report that could rile Japan, China's state news agency Xinhua said more than 50,000 people had visited the memorial in Harbin, the capital of the northeastern Heilongjiang province. The Chinese memorial marks the 1909 action of Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean branded...

Chinese President Hu Jintao made a rare conciliatory gesture to Japan on Friday, offering to hold a summit with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi if he stops visiting a war shrine that other Asian nations consider offensive. The Chinese government has criticized Koizumi for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 2.5 million war dead--including convicted war criminals. South Korea also has disapproved of the visits. Relations between Beijing and Tokyo also are strained over...

By Elaine Lies TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber, whose tumultuous life has landed him in trouble more than once, on Wednesday apologised for a visit to a Tokyo shrine at the centre of a bitter international row over Japan's wartime aggression. Bieber, 20, posted a picture on social media of himself visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine with the heading, "Thank you for your blessings". The picture was later deleted,...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he will continue to explain his visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead to gain understanding from neighboring Asian countries. Last December Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine, which is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, sparking anger from China and South Korea. China and South Korea have repeatedly expressed anger in the past over Japanese politicians'...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he will continue to explain his visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead to gain understanding from neighboring Asian countries. Last December Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine, which is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, sparking anger from China and South Korea. China and South Korea have repeatedly expressed anger in the past over Japanese politicians'...

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in a tense Asian region on Wednesday, faced with the delicate task of assuring Japan and other regional allies of America's commitment to their defense without hurting Washington's vital ties with a rising China. That difficult diplomatic balancing act was highlighted on Monday, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen in parts of the region as a symbol of Japan's...

Japan's Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Friday that opposed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a controversial Tokyo war shrine. The decision was the first by the nation's highest court on Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto complex honoring Japan's war dead. The visits have brought bitter criticism from China and South Korea that Tokyo remains unrepentant for World War II-era atrocities. In the lawsuit, relatives of Japanese, Chinese and South Koreans...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that the Japanese government should not interfere if a lawmaker pays a visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, as an individual. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to the shrine on Monday, sparking protests from China and South Korea. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Dominic Lau)

SEOUL, Dec 26 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead was a deplorable and anachronistic act that damaged ties between the two countries. "We cannot withhold regret and anger over the visit," said Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo Jin-ryong. The visit was an anachronistic act, he said. For many South Koreans the shrine is a reminder of Japan's brutal...

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. President Barack Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a summit next week, they will be battling negative undercurrents that could undermine their message that Asia's most important security alliance is firm. Obama, stopping in Tokyo at the beginning of a four-nation Asian trip, must counter worries in Japan that his commitment to its defense in the face of an increasingly assertive China is weak. Abe will be trying...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that the Japanese government should not interfere if a lawmaker pays a visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, as an individual. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to the shrine on Monday, sparking protests from China and South Korea. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Dominic Lau)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday during a visit to Berlin that Japan's wartime atrocities were still "fresh in our memory". Japan occupied parts of China in the 1930s and 1940s. In December, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angered China and South Korea by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which they see as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression as it honors convicted war criminals as well as others who died in battle. "We...